Thursday, March 31, 2016

Hillary cannot run a presidential campaign

Hillary Clinton was a poor first lady, mediocre senator, and a disaster as secretary of State.

Now Orb magazine reports that she is a hapless presidential candidate as a civil war erupts in her own campaign.From Orb:

Jittery staffers at Hillary Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters have gone into full panic mode, in the wake of five straight landslide losses to Bernie Sanders and the candidate’s plummeting numbers in three national polls.

“This was the worst week so far in the campaign,” said a Democratic party insider, “and everybody is blaming everybody else for the setbacks. Bill Clinton called (campaign chairman) John Podesta (once his White House Chief of Staff) and screamed, ‘Those snotty-nosed kids over there are blowing this thing because nobody is listening to me.’ ”

By “snotty-nosed kids”, the former president, 69, is referring to campaign manager Robby Mook, 36; press secretary Brian Fallon, 35; and campaign vice chairwoman Huma Abedin, 39, who in actuality wields the most power of anyone in the organization by virtue of her status as Mrs. Clinton’s soulmate and alter ego since 1996.

Former president Clinton believes his wife made a mistake in wrapping herself so tightly in the mantle of Barack Obama just before the Southern primaries. He warned her not to do it and blames her recent crushing defeats on that miscalculation. Mrs. Clinton felt it was a strategy she had to employ, in that it energized her base in the Southern states. Nonetheless, astute observers remember that her longtime lackey Sid Blumenthal regularly sent emails to her when she was Secretary of State that ridiculed and insulted President Obama, and instead of remonstrating, Hillary forwarded them to Huma.

Well, she is closer to Huma than Bill, spending more time with her than him. Forget the lesbian rumor. It is a hoary feint that went nowhere. My point concerns time spent together. The Clinton marriage is a facade and his influence is less this time around than it was in 2008.

From Orb:

Back in Brooklyn, the campaign organization is de facto divided into two factions, informally known as “Bill’s crew” and “Huma’s crew” and the tension between them is palpable. Although the candidate does not want to alienate her husband/business partner because she needs him, her primary confidence and trust rests, we are told, in Ms. Abedin, with whom she has a deeper and more fulfilling relationship.

It is not unusual for ambitious sycophants to vie for the ear of presidential candidates (in fact, they usually encourage rivalries among staffers), but the current schism among Hillary’s troopers is significant. Mr. Podesta, the adult in the room, is trying to stay neutral between the opposing Bill and Huma factions, but he is losing patience. Every day, Mr. Clinton keeps calling calling calling with new demands and strategies, and his former employee can hardly refuse to take his calls.

Another frustration for the former president is that he can’t get through on the telephone to his wife, the candidate, without going through Ms. Abedin, who carries the cell phone and screens all calls. When Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Abedin are traveling, they always share a suite, which they lock from the inside to bar the Secret Service. If Hillary is not in the mood to listen to her husband kvetching about problems in the campaign, she instructs Huma to tell Bill she is sleeping and cannot be disturbed. Naturally, this sends the ex-president into paroxysms of rage.

There are two other factors in play here. The Clintons are not seriously worried that she will go to the convention with fewer pledged delegates than the 74-year-old left-wing curmudgeon and the nomination will be awarded to Sanders. What they are concerned about is that the latest national polls show her popularity declining so rapidly that the powers-that-be, i.e. the “superdelegates”, will decide to substitute a Biden or a Warren or someone else who is not so polarizing and abrasive.

Really? Republicans may be dumb enough to spurn a plurality winner, but not Democrats. This implosion helps Bernie and poses a dilemma for the amoral faux conservatives in the Never Trump movement: Which side do they choose in a Sanders-Trump match up?

8 comments:

Political passions are running very high (as usual). Trying any funny business with the nominee selection process is going to alienate people. whether enough will be alienated to effect an election is known-unknown.

Consider the on-going fiascos for the contenders on both sides of the aisle a "none of the above" edict from the voters. What it will produce come November is the two least insider/establishment candidates: Sanders and Trump. If those two square off, I am not voting for the whacko.

The $64 question is why does Bill care whether or not Hillary wins the election? What, if anything, is he trying to prove? It's obvious he gets little comfort and solace from their "marriage." It looks like a strictly business arrangement they have, not a normal husband-wife relationship. He could let Hillary campaign the way she and Huma want, and if her campaign fails or she gets indicted, he can shrug his shoulders and just walk away. It's no skin off his nose. He offered his advice; it was spurned. Once the charade is over, they can each go their separate ways.

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I live in Poca, West Virginia, with my lovely wife of 40 years, Lou Ann. I am an Army veteran and Cleveland State graduate. I retired after 40 years as a newspaperman. In 2016, I published "Trump the Press," which drew rave reviews at Power Line and Instapundit.